Known for appearing mostly in action films, Dave Bautista is an American film actor, former WWE wrester, bodybuilder and mixed martial artists of Filipino descent. Bautista who rose to fame with his collaboration with the WWE (world wrestling entertainment) has been a six time world wrestling champion. After having established himself as a successful wrestler, Bautista entered the film industry in 2006.

Early Life
Born in Washington, D.C., Dave is the son of Donna Raye who has Greek ancestry and David Michael Bautista, Filipino immigrant in the USA who worked as a hairdresser. Bautistas parents divorced he was young and he was brought up his paternal grandfather who after serving in the Philippines military worked as a barber and taxi driver in the US. Bautista has admitted that he had a difficult childhood and when he was about 13 years old he started stealing automobiles.

When he was about 17 years old, he went to live on his own and started working as a bouncer at various clubs but had to leave his job after an ugly brawl with a few patrons at one of the clubs; which left two people injured and one of them was rendered unconscious. He was sentenced to one year probation and later he worked as a lifeguard. Bautista eventually took up a career in bodybuilding, which opened doors for him to enter the film industry.

Personal Life
Dave Bautista married a woman named Glenda in the early 1990s and together they have two daughters Keilani born in 1960 and Athena born in 1992. The marriage did not last long and after the two divorced, Bautista married again in October 1998 to Angie and his second marriage too did not last long and the couple divorced in 2006. Nine years later, the wrestler cum actor married Sarah Jade, a competitive pole dancer in October 2015.

Movie Career
Dave Bautista made his debut in the film industry with an uncredited role in the American comedy film Relative Strangers (2006) directed by Greg Glienna. Three years after his maiden screen appearance, the actor starred in My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done?, which marked his official debut. The film directed by Werner Herzog featured Michael Shannon, Willem Dafoe, Chloe Sevigny and Udo Kier in lead roles. The film, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2009 received mostly positive critical reviews. Roger Ebert of Chicago SunTimes said, Confounds all convention and denies all expected pleasures, providing instead the delight of watching Herzog feed the police hostage formula into the Miximaster of his imagination.

After his debut film, the actor over the next couple of years appeared in several Direct to DVD films including Wrong Side of Town (2010), House of the Rising Sun (2011), and The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption (2011). His first major hit came in 2014 as the collaborated with director James Gunn for the American superhero film Guardians of the Galaxy, which was based on the marvel comics superhero team of the same name. The film also starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, and Lee Pace was critically acclaimed and emerged to be a massive box office hit.

Following the huge success of Guardians of the Galaxy, Bautista was cast by director Sam Mendes in the spy action thriller Spectre (2015), which was the fourth installment in the James Bond film series. The film starring Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Lea Seydoux, Ben Whishaw and Naomie Harris is known to be one of the most expensive bond films to be ever made. It premiered at the Royal Albert Hall in London and emerged to be one the highest grossing films in the series. Later in the year, the actor starred alongside Robert Ne Niro, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Kate Bosworth, Morris Chestnut and Gina Carano is the American crime thriller Heist. The film, which revolves around a casino heist by a father of sick daughter to pay for her treatment bombed at the box office.

In 2016, Bautista shared the screen with Alain Moussi, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Gina Carano in the martial arts film Kickboxer: Vengeance directed by John Stockwell. The film, which premiered at the Fantasia International Film Festival upon its theatrical release was panned by the critics and it bombed at the box office. His 2017 release includes Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 where he is reprising his role as Drax the destroyer. The film, which is the sequel to 2014 film of the same name is directed by James Gunn. His other notable works include Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Master Z: The Ip Man Legacy (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Escape Plan: The Extractors (2019), My Spy (2020), Army of the Dead (2021) and Thor: Love and Thunder (2022).

TV Career
Apart from a successful career in the film industry, Dave Bautista has also appeared in several TV series. He made his debut on the small screen with Smallville (2006), an American superhero fiction drama where he appeared in a singular episode titled Static. He subsequently featured in series like Head Case (2009), Chuck (2010) and Trip Tank (2015).